Category Archives: Podcast

Many infrastructure applications rely upon geosynthetic barriers. Over time, we’ve seen the specification of 40 or 60-mil black high-density polyethylene geomembranes become so common that black HDPE can feel almost like a commodity product. In part, this seems at odds with the critical containment these geomembranes provide. But, it is also in part a testimony to how the geosynthetics manufacturi... »

Nearly 80 years of erosion data in the United States informs the massive RUSLE2 database, led by the US Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. In this episode, Dave Lightle shares his 40+ years of experience with the RUSLE2 mathematical prediction tool for erosion processes and better land management planning, including how the system extended beyond being a tool... »

The Alaska Department of Transportation brought a specific engineering challenge to TenCate Geosynthetics: the need to enhance lateral drainage from roadway subgrades to minimize frost boils. The company came back not only with a design solution but a very unique geotextile, one which is now finding many different applications. Mark Sikkema of TenCate Geosynthetics discusses the development and us... »

Waterway health and coastal resiliency are some of the most highly debated topics in infrastructure, as work or lack of addressing an issue in one locality can greatly impact another further down the river or coast. This complicates permitting and finalizing solutions. Joe Little of Little Environments PLLC spent some years working in Australia, where geosynthetics have frequently been deployed in... »

Infrastructure projects often shape our futures for the better, but they can also be tremendous sources of pollution—especially without proper attention to erosion and sediment control—and lead to poor relations with a community for a project’s stakeholders. How do we improve these relationships? How do we create strong environmental programs on construction sites? How do we give communities a sen... »

The field of geosynthetics has seen a strong increase geomembrane performance debate. The topics have looked roundly at performance in exposed environments, in buried service conditions (e.g., landfill lining), from installation perspectives, and much more. The Berlin 2 think-tank gathering in 2014 on HDPE geomembranes, Queen’s University’s barrier studies, and the Geosynthetic Institute’s ever-gr... »

A few years ago, the International Geosynthetics Society revived its Educate the Educators program. The initiative was developed in the early 1990s to help educate engineers, regulators, and academics about geosynthetic materials, which were flourishing in field use. More than 20 years later, the field of geosynthetics had grown enormously—but how to engineer with these materials had not become st... »

The field of geosynthetics has often been defined by how these materials improve the performance and economics of a particular site or application. One of the ways that geosynthetics achieve such goals is through rigorous testing to ensure proper selection of a material. However, engineering approaches are often driven by a market’s level of infrastructure development and regulatory readiness. Thi... »

Mechanically stabilized earth walls have been the subject of the most read stories on Geosynthetica this year and a few of the most read stories in 2016 as well. This past spring, some of that field interest in MSE design became the focus of a unique meeting at the Geotechnical Frontiers 2017 conference. There, the ASCE Geo-Institute Technical Committee on Geosynthetics brought together leading MS... »

George Koerner, Director of the Geosynthetic Institute, had the honor this year of delivering the first Koerner Lecture—a series named in honor of his father Dr. Robert Koerner, who is internationally recognized as one of the godfathers of geosynthetics and who continues his work as Director Emeritus at GSI. Last year, I had the pleasure to see both Koerners at an ASCE’s GeoChicago conference and ... »

Jay Sprague of the South Carolina-based Denver Down Research Facility took on a private client’s pullout anchor testing questions with erosion and sediment control systems and components. The results began to yield revealing data on anchor pullout performance, and in a way that has not been previously explored. Listen to “Pullout Anchor Testing in Erosion and Sediment Control” on Sprea... »

Erosion and sediment control advances have produced enormously beneficial results, in infrastructure performance and economics; yet, rates of erosion and sediment control system adoption rates have lagged behind the research supporting them. Dr. Eve Brantley, an extension specialist and associate professor with Auburn University’s Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences Department in the renowned C... »

How do we create a more water-centric infrastructure? That’s a question LimnoTech senior engineer Dr. Daniel Medina, P.E., D.WRE addresses in his work. Low impact development strategies are very important to his work. It’s trickier than just saying “use LID,” though. Inequalities between cities and countries make is harder for some infrastructure strategies to get adopted. Priorities are different... »

Geotechnical engineering requires a lot of waiting. You wait on calls, test results, the weather. You wait on a construction activity to finish, on software to complete extremely complex models, on site assessments to be signed off on. You wait in labs and airports, on calls, in lobbies. So what to do with all that waiting? Sometimes, you let the mind wander. It may just take you to geotechnical p... »

The Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute published its Tech Spec 22 this year. The document provides general guidelines on the use of geosynthetics within segmental concrete pavements. ICPI’s Director of Engineering Robert Bowers, P.Eng, spoke to Geosynthetica about the publication and the growing role of interlocking concrete pavement technologies, performance of these systems, sustainability... »

Geosynthetica opens its 2017 series of GeoTalk podcasts with a conversation about sedimentation, dams, and watershed health. Our guest is Craig Benson, an International Erosion Control Association Board Member and a division director for the private, non-profit Natural Resources Services in Eureka, California. NRS is a division of the Redwood Community Action Agency. There are more than 1000 commu... »

Geosynthetica’s Director, Elizabeth Peggs, interviewed Dr. Craig Benson (University of Virginia) and engineer John Allen (CETCO) about coal combustion residuals (CCRs) and new barrier system regulations governing CCR handling and storage. Both Benson and Allen will be at the Coal Ash Management Forum on July 21 and 22 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Benson is a speaker at the event. In their discuss... »